Refuse compacting vehicle body



2 Sheets-Sheet l mm mm m 5 mm x N E. R. BCECK ETAL REFUSE COMPACTING VEHICLE BODY Sept. 21, 1965 Original Filed May 11, 1960 JNVENTORS ELLS WORTH R. BOECK a; ROBERT J. WALTER W P BY ATTORNEYS p 1965 E. R. BOECK ETAL 3,207,336

REFUSE COMPAGTING VEHICLE BODY Original Filed May 11, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 56 2 I02 /04 33 [04 /OZ 96 .99 10 ugfiagx INVENTORJ ELLSWORTH l2. BOECK 8: ROBERT J. WALTER ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,207,336 REFUSE COMPACTING VEHICLE BODY Ellsworth R. Boeck, Buffalo, and Robert J. Walter, Kenmore, N.Y., assignors to Truck Equipment Co., Inc., Buffalo, N.Y.

Original application May 11, 1960, Ser. No. 28,339, now Patent No. 3,148,786, dated Sept. 15, 1964. Divided and this application Jan. 16, 1964, Ser. No. 347,323

1 Claim. (Cl. 214-82) This application is a division of our copending application Serial No. 28,339, filed May 11, 1960, now Patent No. 3,148,786.

This invention relates to refuse collection vehicles and particularly to improvements in refuse collection vehicle bodies of the so-called packer type.

Packer bodies or compaction bodies for refuse collecting and transporting vehicles are in general use in the refuse collection field and one form of packer body has side doors near the front of the body for introducing refuse and a packer plate which moves rearwardly within the body to compact refuse toward the rear of the body. The refuse is emptied from the body by opening a rear door and ejecting the refuse by further operation of the rearwardly movable packer plate.

Patented Sept. 21, 1965 end of the body shell to form a seat for a rear door component designated generally in FIG. 1 by the numeral 3 A track 31 in the form of an I-bear is attached to the interior wall at the top of body structure 20 to give guiding support to the upper portion of a longitudinally movable packer plate designated generally by the numeral 32 and track 31 extends rearwardly beyond body 20 into the generally convex rear door as indicated in FIG. 1.

An external reinforcing member 33 of T-shape in cross-section in the present instance, extends along the top of body structure 20, principally for additional reinforcement of the forward portion of the body structure and incidentally to provide a trackway for side door structure which will be described later herein. Member 33 is welded to the upper surface of track 31 to be substantially integral therewith.

It will be noted by reference to FIG. 2 that a pair of longitudinally extending half round members 34 at the V interior of the body structure provide rails or trackways The refuse packer body of the present invention is of the foregoing general type and presents a number of important improvements in construction and operation of such apparatus. In the form shown herein by way of example the packer body comprises generally a hollow cylinder and the construction and arrangement of the body itself and the packer plate mounting and moving means is such as to provide maximum strength, relative freedom from distortion due to loading and packing forces, and all-around efficiency and economy in the design of the body per se and the various operating components, mainly the packer plate and its operating means and the cooperating rear door employed in ultimately ejecting the contents of the body.

Various other objects and advantages of the refuse packer body construction and arrangement of the present invention will appear to those skilled in this art from a study of the exemplary embodiment depicted in the accompanying drawings and are referred to in the ensuing description.

A single embodiment of the principles of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in detail in the following specification but it is to be understood that such embodiment is by way of example and illustration only and that the principles of the invention are not limited to this embodiment nor otherwise than as defined in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a general side elevational view of one form of the refuse packer body of the present invention with portions thereof broken away for added illustration;

FIG. 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view on the line IIII of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary transverse cross-sectional view taken approximately on the line IVIV of FIG. 1.

Like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings. In the refuse packer body which is illustrated herein to exemplify the principles of the present invention a main body or shell structure is designated generally by the numeral 20 and comprises a plurality of arcuately formed metal sheets or plates 21 which are welded or otherwise secured to various connecting and reinforcing rings which are of angle iron cross-section and are designated, from front to rear of the body in FIG. 1, by the numerals 22 through 28. A relatively heavy ring member 29 is welded to the rear for lower rollers 35 provided at the base of packer plate 32 and a pair of external longitudinal angle members 36 provide ledges which seat upon the longitudinal rail or channel members 37 of a conventional motor truck chassis upon which the packer body of the present invention is mounted. If desired, vertical side plates may be welded across the outer surfaces of the angle members 36 and frame channel members 37 to fix these members permanently to each other.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the packer plate 32 comprises a pair of spaced generally circular plate members 41 and 42 held in rigid spaced relation by intervening structural members indicated generally at 43, the whole being welded to form an integral rigid packer plate weldment. The fixed welded structure of packer plate 32 includes an upper central longitudinal channel member 45 and a pair of lower longitudinal channel members 46.

A pair of longitudinally spaced flanged rollers 48 mounted within channel member 45 engage along track 31 and longitudinally spaced rollers rotatably mounted within the lower channel members 46 have previously been designated 35. Rollers 35 have their peripheries concaved to track along the half round members 34. It will be noted that the lower portion of the rear wall of packer plate 32 has an outwardly flaring wall portion 50 which exerts a material raising component of force on the refuse as the packer plate moves rearwardly and this force cooperates with the particular contour of the rear door 30, as will appear later herein.

A relatively wide channel member 51 extends obliquely from the forward portion of upper channel member 45 to a generally central portion of the packer plate structure generally to stiffen the structure. The lower end of the channel member 51 cooperates in forming an enclosure 53 which includes bearing means 54 for pivotal engagement with the small end of a series of telescoping piston and cylinder members designated generally and collectively by the numeral 55.

Both plate members 41 and 42 of the packer plate are perforated as indicated at 52 in FIG. 2 so that air is readily released from the refuse as it is being compacted.

It will be noted from FIG. 1 that the upper track 31 and lower half round tracks 34 extend rearwardly beyond the body shell 20 and into the convex rear door 30 to permit the packet plate to be moved rearwardly until its rear portion projects beyond the body shell to facilitate cleaning the interior of the latter.

The rear door 30 has side wall portions 56 which comprise cylindrical continuations of the body shell 20 and a rear wall 57 which is curved outwardly as viewed in side elevation in FIG. 1. The rear wall 57 does not require compound curvature but merely comprises a flat plate bent to the contour shown in FIG. 1. However, its intersection with the rearwardly extending cylindrical wall portions 56 give the door a generally convex exterior surface.

This contour of rear door 30 cooperates with the flaring lower wall portion 50 of the packer plate 32 so that rearward movement of the packer plate with the door closed tends to feed the refuse upwardly whereby the packed refuse fills the interior of the body more efficiently than if this upward camming action on the refuse did not take place. i

The usual packing action in conventional compaction bodies of the prior art results in a much greater refuse density toward the bottom of the load and the foregoing cooperation between the respective facing contours of the packer plate and the interior of the rear door does much to ameliorate this tendency and thereby increase the pay load of the body.

It will be noted by reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 that a pair of sawtooth plate members 145 are attached substantially medially to opposite sides of the interior of the body 20 to project obliquely upwardly and inwardly, the packer plate 32 being slotted as shown in FIG. 2 to clear the same. These plate members are provided to assist in preventing fall back of the packed contents of the body as the packer plate withdraws therefrom, particularly when the body reaches a condition where it is fairly well filled.

We claim:

In a refuse compacting vehicle body, a longitudinally extending body shell of generally circular cross-section, compacting plate means extending transversely across the interior of said body, said compacting plate having a lower portion sloping downwardly and in the direction of compaction, track means extending longitudinally along upper and lower interior portions of said body, said compacting plate means having upper and lower extensions lengthwise of said body, and longitudinally spaced pairs of rollers carried by said extensions for rolling engagement with said upper and lower track means to mount said compacting plate for free movement longitudinally of said body, said lower pair comprising a leading roller disposed between the plane of said transversely extending compacting plate means and said sloping portion and a trailing roller at the opposite side of said compacting plate means with respect to said sloping portion, said upper pair of rollers comprising a roller disposed at each side of said compacting plate forwardly and rearwardly thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,889,944 6/59 Clark et al. 214-82 2,996,202 8/61 Neyland 214-82 3,007,589 11/61 Galloway 2l482 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

HUGO O. SCHULZ, Examiner. 

